Portsmouth 11/12 All-Stars post monster win

PORTSMOUTH — Video games wish they could put up the numbers that the Portsmouth 11/12 Little League All-Star team did on Monday night.

Terrill Covey

PORTSMOUTH — Video games wish they could put up the numbers that the Portsmouth 11/12 All-Star team did on Monday night.

The first 11 batters for Portsmouth reached base and scored en route to a 16-0 first-inning lead, and Portsmouth cruised to a 28-0, four-inning win over Concord Red (0-2) in round robin play of the District II tournament.

Portsmouth (2-0) clubbed five home runs, including a solo shot and a grand slam from Timm Kutzer, both in the top of the third inning, and left no doubt as to the quality of their offense heading into today's matchup with Laconia.

"Everybody got three solid at-bats and hit the ball hard," said Portsmouth manager Kyle Griffin. "After that we were able to work on some different things like trying to hit it to the opposite field and our bunting."

The hard hitting started early, as Colby Griffin hit a three-run homer to give Portsmouth a 3-0 lead. Oscar Lalime also hit a home run in the inning, while Will Fahey hit a pair of triples and Kutzer hit a pair of doubles. Nick Wyman also doubled in the first as Portsmouth got the 16 runs on 18 hits and a walk, along with three Concord errors.

The second inning was a little quieter, as Portsmouth added two runs. The third inning, however, resembled the first, as Kutzer and Jack Russo led off with back-to-back home runs. The first 10 Portsmouth batters reached in the third, and nine of them scored to open the lead to 27-0. Portsmouth tacked on one more run in the top of the fourth to cap the scoring.

Jeremny DeStefano finished 4-for-4 with four runs scored, while Kutzer was 5-for-6 with four runs and five RBIs. Aaron Lundgren finished 4-for-4 with three runs scored and Jacob Boutin came off the bench to go 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs. Jack Russo also had a nice day going 3-for-6 with three runs and two RBIs.

"It shows we have really good bats, and that's good," said Fahey. "That's going to be how we win most of our games."

With the game against Laconia looming today, Griffin said he doesn't anticipate his team falling into any bad habits or being overly anxious at the plate after Monday's success.

"Most of these kids have such good swings, they're never swinging for the fences, the swings are just great so they happen to go out," he said. "They have to temper their enthusiasm and stick with the basics of hitting, and I think they'll be able to do that."

"We can't get overly confident," said Portsmouth's Aaron Lundgren. "We have to take it game by game, one game at a time. We have to play defense. That's the biggest part of what we do."

Lost in the offensive explosion is the fact that five Portsmouth pitchers combined to allow just one hit and four walks. Portsmouth also turned a nifty 5-3-5 double play to erase a double by Concord's Myles Muir.

"We were able to get (five) pitchers in to pitch, and they all did well," said Griffin. "It's nice because we were able to get them reps but keep their arms fresh.

"Concord played hard, they played tough," he added. "Our bats were just hot today. We know these games are rare. You're not usually going to hit home runs at a field with a 225-foot wall."

Concord coach Jay Muir said he was also happy with his team's attitude and effort in what they knew would be a difficult game.

"We knew the deal coming in," Muir said. "We've got a lot of 11 year olds who don't have as many reps. (Portsmouth) has a lot of reps and they're a really good team."

He singled out Nate Towers, who pitched well for Concord Red, and Alex Reynolds, who played well at catcher, including directing traffic on the litany of Portsmouth bunts after the game got out of hand. Reynolds was also on the receiving end of five put outs in the game to prevent the score from being even worse.

Griffin said he expects today's game with Laconia to be a difficult one.

"Laconia is one of the best teams out there," he said. "I hope we saved some (hitting) for them."

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